This invention relates to armor products that can achieve realistic missile penetration criteria while reducing the weight and/or volume of the material necessary to achieve the desired results. Methods for making such armor products are also provided.
There continues to be a demand for protection against ballistic projectiles, including bullets, bomb fragments and other flying objects. With the advancement of technology, particularly composite materials using fibers and laminates, armor that is much lighter than equivalent steel protection has become available and is presently utilized to provide limited protection for the human body, aircraft, vehicles and many other applications. As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, there continues to be a demand for still further ballistic resistant products that can achieve realistic missile penetration criteria while reducing the weight and/or volume of the material necessary to achieve the desired results.
The present invention contemplates penetration resistant material capable of resisting high velocity impacts from flying missiles such as bullets, shrapnel, debris, etc. In one aspect, the present invention is directed to a ballistic panel formed of at least one layer of woven ballistic resistant material and at least one layer of non-woven ballistic resistant material. Still further, it is preferred that the layers are intermittently connected to form relatively large areas of substantially unconnected material surrounded by smaller areas of connected material. The present invention is further directed to composite devices comprising at least two panels formed of at least two layers of such penetration resistant material.
In one embodiment of the invention, but without limitation to the use of alternative materials, the penetration resistant material of the ballistic panel may comprise at least one layer of Spectra material. The ballistic panel may further comprise at least one layer of Kevlar material. The ballistic panel may comprise at least one or more layers of Kevlar and a greater number of Spectra layers. In a specific embodiment, the ballistic panel may comprise three Kevlar layers and ten Spectra layers. Furthermore, the ballistic panel may be assembled by combining the intermittently connected penetration resistant layers of Kevlar and Spectra with laminated layers of penetration resistant material.
In one embodiment, the at least two layers of penetration resistant material may be joined by a filament. In one aspect, the filament (or filaments) may be used to sew a pattern of connection between the first layer and the second layer defining relatively large areas of unconnected layers bounded by substantially smaller areas of interconnected material.
In still a further aspect of the invention, a ballistic panel comprises a first projectile deformation layer and at least one additional layer of pliable penetration resistant material. The projectile deformation layer may comprise a metallic sheet while the pliable layer may comprise thermoset Kevlar material.
Still further, another aspect of the invention comprises a ballistically modified seat cover. The seat cover may be formed of the lightweight, penetration resistant devices described herein. The seat cover is sufficiently flexible and quick-detachable so as to be readily usable for a variety of other uses such as covering a user.
The present invention also contemplates a foldable panel formed of ballistic resistant material. In one aspect, such a foldable panel may include rigid stiffeners to limit collapse. Further, fasteners may be provided on the foldable panel to join it to support structures or additional panels of similar construction.
These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of the preferred embodiments.